Exclamation’s “Stock” Photo Field Trips

The internet is a fantastic place if, for nothing else, the sheer amount of STUFF that can help you do your job.

Take stock photography as an example. Believe it or not, there was a time when you had to buy a disc – and maybe even a FLOPPY disc – to get pictures to use in your marketing. And if we go WAY back, you had a bunch of floppy discs where you had to load the first one to run the program that could show you the pictures, then you had to take it out to put in the disc with pictures. Maybe you had more than one disc, so you had to put it in, see if it had the right thing, take it out, put in another disc, etc., etc., until you eventually just got eaten by a T-Rex because it knocked on your door and we didn’t have doorbells with cameras either.

So inconvenient.

Now, though, we can find hundreds, even thousands of photos for any project with the click of a button; some might even be free.

Amazing. If you can find the right picture, that is.

Because it’s not just a pretty picture, is it? Your audience wants to see themselves in what you’re promoting. To picture themselves behind the wheel of that new car, to smell the fresh air in that nature shot, and know they can wrap their hands around that beautiful latte when it’s chilly. Most importantly, they want to know who YOU are; images help you tell the story.

Over the last couple of years, our team started to realize that even though we had access to a ton of images for everything we wanted to do, it was dastardly hard to find what we really needed.

Take ATVs and UTVs, for example. We’re based in Central Wisconsin, which means our biggest client (Simplicity Credit Union, which is also our main sponsor) wants to reach people who buy outdoor toys to get out in the Northwoods, ride for fun on weekends, and maybe get some work done, too.

Fun Fact: SO MANY stock photos with ATVs and UTVs are shot in the desert.

And that’s just one example. The flora and fauna, the weather, the houses and businesses… everything we see when we look out our windows is unique to our place and time, and stock photography doesn’t do it justice. That’s why we started scheduling photo field trips.

The process is pretty simple:

1. Pay attention to the photos you can’t find. Maybe it’s a particular landmark, background, or recreation unique to your audience’s experience.
2. Brainstorm other images you might use. Think about diversity in people, places, and moods.
3. Figure out where you need to go and what friends you can call to get those shots.
4. Charge your equipment, pack a snack, and hit the road.

The Exclamation Team has scheduled everything from a full day with a pontoon boat ride and drone footage to an hour at a local park with a friend and her cool new truck. With a goal to get every season of the year (in Wisconsin, we have them all... sometimes in the same week), we’re giving ourselves and our clients a ton of options for local photography.

Want to see some examples?

Here are some from the last couple of years:

About the Author: Suzanne Campbell is the Lead Creative & Band Champion on the Exclamation Marketing team and the self-proclaimed evangelist for Brand Voice. She’s picked up a lot of smart ideas from a lot of amazing people in her nearly 25 years of experience and you can frequently hear them on the Awsomology podcast.